TRANSATLANTIC TTY
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The first (authorized)
transatlantic telephone
 conversation between
two deaf people.

   USA     -      UK   

 

 

Michael King-Beer, Jack Ashley and U.S. Ambassador Elliott L. Richardson making the first transatlantic call over the deaf telephone.

 

 

 

The
deaf telephone-
now transatlantic! 
(Laudington Daily News)

(From the Joe and Mary Slotnick Collection at SMECC)

 

            

                   (L)  United States Ambassador Elliot L. Richardson                                    (R) Jack Ashley conversing with Washington D.C. on the MCM 

 

 

The first transatlantic telephone conversation between two deaf people took place on Monday, 12th May, United States Ambassador Elliot L. Richardson (above), having just opened an exhibition of telecommunications equipment at the U.S. Trade Centre in London, first spoke of Alexander Graham Bell, who had intended his telephone 'primarily to help the deaf communicate with each other'. He then welcomed Jack Ashley, MP, who had agreed to place the call to Dr Boyce R. Williams, Director of the Office of Deafness and Communicative Disorders, at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C. 


'In this era of dramatic developments in communications: Mr Richardson continued, 'we have all been amazed and inspired by live television coverage from the moon. We must not be any less alert or receptive to breakthroughs in methods of communication for the handicapped. This phone call is a significant step in helping the handicapped to take their deserved part in today's world.' 

Having established contact with Dr Boyce Williams, Jack Ashley then spoke to Dr Robert Weitbrecht, the 'Father' of the deaf telephone, who developed the teleprinter modem, and to Dr Latham Breunig, Executive Director of Teletypewriters for the Deaf Inc. 



            

                    Jack Ashley conversing with Washington D.C on the MCM             Note this UK version of the MCM has special cups

 

"ON BEHALF OF 5000 AMERICAN AND CANADIAN MEMBERS WE GREET OUR ENGLISH MEMBERS DAVID HYSLOP ANDREW KENYON MICHAEL KING BEER TERRY WATERS PAUL WARD ANDREA SAKS." They then switched to the MCM (above). Greetings were exchanged between the British Ambassador in Washington, Sir Peter Ramsbotham, and Ambassador Richardson. 

"HOW IS THE FISHING ON HIS PART OF THE RIVER?" 
To which Jack Ashley replied: 

"FINE HE HAS ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH. I SUSPECT THAT AFTER THIS CALL IS OVER HE WILL CLAIM THE LARGEST FISH IN BRITAIN HAS BEEN CAUGHT BY THE AMERICAN EMBASSY"

"WARM GOOD WISHES TO MRS CASTLE" via the deaf telephone

 

Want to learn more?

Michael King-Beer

Jack Ashley http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9219301/Lord-Ashley-of-Stoke.html

Mrs. Castle http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-112920/A-Political-Tornado--The-Life-Barbara-Castle.html

Ambassador Elliot L. Richardson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Richardson 

Joe and Mary Slotnick contributor 



 

 

 Equipment used -

 

USA

MCM By MICON Industries 

Stand alone modem PHONETYPE 3 or 4 by APCOM USA

Teletype model 33ASR


UK

MCM with special  ear cups to fit the U.K. Telephone handset.

Stand alone modem PHONETYPE 8 by APCOM USA

Sam Hallas, UK Telecommunications Historian tells us: "The teleprinter is almost certainly a Creed Model 7 in its silence cover."

 

TRANSATLANTIC TTY    Courtesy of James C. Marsters and Harry G. Lang - Harry G. Lang Collection at  SMECC


Andrea J. Saks played a significant role in gaining permission for the first translantic
TTY call in may 1975. On the day of the call, she held a press conference at the U.S.
Trade Center Building in London. She has spent most of her adult life in pursuit of
equity and compatibility in international telecommunications  -This photo Courtesy of
 James C. Marsters and Harry G. Lang - Harry G. Lang Collection at  SMECC - Glendale AZ

 


Courtesy of James C. Marsters and Harry G. Lang


Courtesy of James C. Marsters and Harry G. Lang

(Left) The first authorized transatlantic TTY call took place on May 13, 1975. On the American side, Boyce R. Williams, Director of the Office of Deafness and Communicative Disorders, Rehabilitation Services Administration of the Department of Health, Educa­tion and Welfare sat at the TTY. He was joined by (left to right) Karl Bakke, Acting Secretary, Department of Commerce; British Ambassador Sir Peter Ramsbotham; the Honorable Caspar Weinberger, Secretary, Department of HEW; and Charlotte A. Coffield, Program Specialist, Office of Deafness and Communicative Disorders

(Right) On the British side at the U.S. Trade Center Building in London, deaf Member of Parliament Jack Ashley typed his message to the Americans. Behind him were Michael King-Beer, a deaf pioneer with the British TTY network, and U.S. Ambassador Elliot L. Richardson. Photographs courtesy of P.I.C. PHOTOS LIMITED.

 




 

 

 

transatlantic-tty Ludington Daily News - Jun 12 1975

 

 


 

670 ELECTRONICS & POWER 12 JUNE 1975
NEWS/INDUSTRY

DEAF PEOPLE IN TRANSATLANTIC LINK UP


More than 70 American companies took part in an exhibition at the US Trade Center last month which had the theme telecommunication systems and equipment. But certainly the major attraction to the nontechnical Press on the first day of the five-day exhibition was a
trans-Atlantic telephone call between Jack Ashley, MP, and Dr. Boyce Williams, director of the US Office of Deafness & Communicative Disorders. 

Both Mr. Ashley and Dr. Williams are deaf and this telephone call—the first to be made between two deaf people across the Atlantic— was to demonstrate a new
system that enables people with speech and hearing difficulties to communicate by means of a teletypewriter and a normal telephone line.

At the centre of the equipment is a 'Phonetype' electronic modem which converts the electrical impulses of the teletypewriter into sound impulses. The two communicants then converse by typing their messages back and forth on the teletypewriters, which are connected to their personal modems.


The Phonetype was invented about ten years ago in America by a deaf physicist, Dr. Robert H.
Weitbrecht. An updated version of the 'Phonetype', the MCM, is an acoustic modem with a teletypewriter- type keyboard and a 32-character l.e.d. screen. The Phonetype system with Teleprinter costs £190 plus v.a.t. and the MCM device, not having yet been sold in Britain, costs approximately $625 (Encircle 70).

Examples
The exhibition included examples of fixed, mobile, marine and airborne h.f., v.h.f. and u.h.f. radiocommunication systems, radiotelephones, microwave links, cable communication and repeaters.


Also on display were facsimile transmission equipment, community-aerial t.v. systems, test equipment, pressurising systems, data-communication terminals, modems and test sets.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=05182029

 

 

 




From the Harry G. Lang Collection at SMECC Photo  formerly belonged to Dr. Marsters

Photos  marked UK PHONETYPE 8  ... and  sure enough  they are the same  model as 
used in the transatlantic  test. 
   

 

From the Harry G. Lang Collection at SMECC Photo  formerly belonged to Dr. Marsters

Photos  marked UK PHONETYPE 8  ... and  sure enough  they are the same  model as 
used in the transatlantic  test.    

From the Harry G. Lang Collection at SMECC Photos  formerly belonged to Dr. Marsters

Photos  marked UK PHONETYPE 8... and  sure enough  they are the same model as 
used in the transatlantic  test.    

 

The logo on the teleprinter.

What is the meaning of  this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


  (Photos and Text from  TDI GA-SK NEWSLETTER - Summer 1993   - The Harry G. Lang Collection at SMECC



Transatlantic Communications

Then: Historic Event

 

 

Left to Right: Karle, General Counsel, Dept. of Commerce representing Secretary Morton who was in Japan; Sir Peter Ramsbotham; Secretary Weinberger; Charlotte Coffield; Robert H. Weitbrecht, Vice President, Applied Communications Corporation (a deaf engineer who invented the device)

 

Michael Kingbeer, deaf leader, watches Sir Jack Ashley, deaf member of Parliament, makes the TTY call while Andrea Saks (playing peek-a-boo), and US Ambassador Elliot Richardson observes. (man in the back is unidentified)

 

A notable event occurred May 12, 1975 when a number of TDI members, arranged by Executive Director Latham Bruenig, gathered to observe and to participate in the first authorized transatlantic TTY conversation between the Department of Health Education and Welfare in Washington D.C. and the World Trade Show in London, England. At the present time TTY calls to and from England are not permitted under the tariffs because they are classified as "data transmission" which is not allowed to be fed into the USA voice grade telephone lines. The concept of using TTYs for inter-personal conversation, like regular telephone calls, is still relatively new.

 

Now: Recent Advances in United Kingdom
(as of 1993)

 

Al Sonnenstrahl receives the call while the members of the Council of Organizational Representatives watch.

 

Christopher Jones, vice president of Teletec International, calls AI Sonnenstrahl from the public text telephone in London while Judy Tingley looks on.

Christopher Jones, a top executive from Teletec International, the UK distributor of the new text pay phone, will be one of the first commuters to benefit from the system, currently on trial by BTMr Jones, Vice President of the Milton Keynes company, has been deaf for most of his life. At a London press conference, he said: "If the trial is successful, my business life will be easier." "People in the UK who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have speech impairments, are going to find the text pay phone of benefit because it will allow them to make calls more conveniently when they are out of the home or office."

The new BT text pay phone, manufactured by Ultratec, an American company, will enable deaf commuters to make pay phone calls throughout the world.

SK

(Photos and Text   from  TDI GA-SK NEWSLETTER - Summer 1993   - The Harry G. Lang Collection at SMECC


 

  Note -  The Teleprinter used  on the UK side of the experiments was a CREED model  7.

 




 

 

Note  from  Dr. Robert H. Weitbrecht. to Mike Cannon at MICON wishing  him good luck on the  English  MCMs Prior to the U.K.  - U.S.A. Transatlantic test.

 

 

      From the Michael Cannon  MICOM Collection at  SMECC
 _______________________________________________________

 

 

 

 




Biography
Ms Andrea Saks is a known advocate for ICTs for persons with disabilities. She grew in a family of two deaf
parents and assisted them from an early age as their interface with the hearing world: She as responsible making
doctors’ appointments, arranging guests’ visits and other appointments by using the telephone which was then
inaccessible to her family without her.
Her father, the late Andrew Saks, the late Robert Weitbrecht and James C. Marsters (who recently died July
2009) were the first pioneers deaf themselves, who created deaf telecommunications using surplus
teletypewriters and modems that spread throughout the world. These devices were the precursors of textphones
and today’s real-time text messaging.
She took that role to the next level when she relocated from the US to the UK in 1972 to promote the use of
textphones internationally. She worked with the British Government Post Office (then the regulator of UK
telecommunications) and was granted a license for connection of text telephones on the regular telephone
network. She was able to successfully lobby the US FCC to allow the first transatlantic textphone conversation
over the voice telephone network (1975). Her first involvement with ITU standardization activity started in 1991
and has ever since increased in scope. Self-funded, she currently attends many ITU-T study group and focus
group meetings promoting the inclusion of accessibility functionality in systems being standardized by ITU,
such as multimedia conferencing, cable, IPTV and NGN. After the recent creation of ITU-D Q20/1 on
accessibility matters by WTDC-06, she also started attending that group and now performs as a bridge between
the two sectors on accessibility for persons with disabilities. She has been a key person in the creation of all
accessibility events in ITU, and currently is the convener of the recently formed joint coordination activity on
accessibility and human factors, as well as the coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic
Coalition on Accessibility and Disability. In 2008 she was given the ITU World Telecommunication and
Information Society Award and made a Laureate for her lifelong work in accessibility to telecommunications
and ICTs for persons with Disabilities.
Session 4 Title:
Technologies and Standards in promoting accessible ICT services and products
Session 6 Title:
Real Time Captioning, Total Conversation relay and Application in Emergency Services.
Abstract: TBA


 

SPECIAL REPORT FROM CAIRO – ITU WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY AWARD 2008 – LAUREATES © ITU News.

ITU/J.M. Ferré

Information deprivation and bad access is the problem, not the disability.

Andrea Saks

Renowned advocate of ICT for people with disabilities

Andrea Saks first became involved in ITU work in 1991. Self-funded, she attends many meetings of study groups and focus groups of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T), promoting the inclusion of accessibility standards. Through attending Study Group 1 of the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D) in its consideration of Question 20, she also acts as a bridge between the two Sectors on the issue.
Ms Saks has been key in the creation of accessibility events at ITU, and is the convener of the Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors (JCA-AHF). She is also the coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.

Winner of an ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award 2008, Andrea Saks is the daughter of deaf parents, whom, from an early age, she helped to interact with the hearing world. Her father, Andrew Saks, was a pioneer in developing telecommunication technology for people with hearing difficulties. Ms Saks thus has a strong personal background and interest in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) for people with disabilities. At the Award ceremony in Cairo, she underlined her commitment to making ICT accessible to all, telling her story in her own words:

I started working with my parents as a two-year-old relay service. This is a service where the hearing person makes the call for the deaf person so they can communicate with the outside world. It must have been a horrific experience for my parents to rely on a two-year-old, but I thought I did a great job. I got better at it by the time I was three. But by the time I was fourteen, I probably was another nightmare, because teenagers are not all that cooperative.

My father and mother met through the oddest circumstance, and it depicts the problem of what deaf people went through, and in some cases, still go through… My father stopped to help this person change a flat tyre in the middle of the night — as you did in those days, without fear — and he was surprised that this man knew to face him and speak to him, so he could lip read. My father asked him “how do you know?” The man said “well, there’s this beautiful deaf girl living next door”. That was my mother. The gentleman didn’t tell my father his name. But my father had written down his licence plate number, and this helped him trace where my mother was.


Andrea Saks
Andrew and Jean Saks, the parents of Andrea, were both deaf, and, as a child, she helped them communicate with others

My father was not born deaf — but was robbed of his hearing through a mastoid infection. He was an oral speaker. He had the advantage of having parents who had the funds to educate him. So he didn’t know any sign language. My mother, who was also totally deaf, was the daughter of a dual national and was educated in Britain… She was an oral speaker too. This was unusual in those times; there were very few oral deaf people as not everyone had the funds to educate their deaf children to speak.

My father was an engineer. He really was angry that he couldn’t use the phone as it prevented him from participating in business life. By chance, he met a wonderful character by the name of Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf physicist, who used to do radio TTY ship-to-shore with a telex machine. And with his other friend, Dr James Marsters, who was also deaf, the three of them decided they could convert this technology into something they could use over the phone. They had very little money to do it; they had no support from industry, because it was a very specialized market and therefore it was not economically viable. But they did it — they invented a modem.

However, they had no printing device. They had to use old surplus teleprinters… So they created Teletypewriters for the Deaf Incorporated (TDI), now known as Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. They got the equipment up and running, and started talking over the phone — typing the words in the original real-time text (which, by the way, is now standardized by ITU). And they were able to reconvert old, surplus teleprinters which were donated to TDI.

The deaf community got their shirt sleeves rolled up and reconditioned those machines… and they shipped them across the country. And they did it all themselves. It’s remarkable. But looking back, I was a little annoyed — I’d lost my powerful place in life. They didn’t need me any more. But they had to communicate with the outside world, and relay services weren’t quite up and running yet. So I still had some involvement.

The phenomenon was so important that all my mother’s friends began to write to her, saying “we want this too”. So they (my parents) encouraged me to go to England, and with the British Post Office we started the first deaf telephone network that was international. And we did the first deaf transatlantic call (in 1975)… It was a resounding success… it showed interpersonal text communication was something that people needed and could do, and it’s one of the reasons that fax slowly exploded into another wonderful tool we used… Hearing people may not realize it, but the deaf gave you the right to access data across the voice telephone network.

Because there were differences in different countries… this made new barriers for deaf people. One of the problems was that the British wanted to use Telecom Gold, which was an early form of e-mail. So they destroyed the network that enabled American deaf and British deaf people to communicate, because they wanted to do something better. There was no standardization — none whatsoever… We were isolated again. Other countries also wanted to give deaf people communication, and began to make text phones… France went to Minitel; Italy and Germany had other techniques.

That’s when I got to ITU. They nearly threw me out because I didn’t have any credentials, but fortunately, the US State Department representative decided it might be an interesting idea, and they officially put me into a delegation. That was 1991, and I’ve been coming to ITU ever since. And what I tried to do at ITU was to put a human face on technology, to make engineers understand that the modem didn’t terminate the call, the human being did. I want people to understand that ITU was very receptive to me as an individual. The resistance came from ignorance, or the fact they felt that they were going to have to spend too much money. Or, the fact that they didn’t understand how easy or how difficult it might be to implement something. We did have a wonderful standard that was called V.18, which invisibly translated all the flavours of text phones… Also, e-mail came along, instant messaging came along, and deaf people began to use other kinds of communication. But nothing is quite like real-time text.

Lack of standardization was the problem that caused the fracturing of the deaf telephone network. Standardization is necessary. The most important thing we can do is promote good standards that include accessibility features; mainstream them, not make them special… The feeling I have is that now the engineers get it. They really understand. I walk into a room. They know I am there, we work together. I look at a document, we see how we can put in certain features to make it better. I’ve been working with IPTV, which is Internet protocol television. I’ve been working with NGN, the next-generation network, so that, within the requirements documents, people’s needs are expressed.

The next step is implementation. This is up to legislators and regulators, because industry does have to be encouraged; because it does sometimes cost extra money to do these things… Ten per cent of the world has a disability of some kind. Information deprivation and bad access is the problem, not the disability.

I really hope that all of you… encourage people to use universal design from the beginning; that we have people who design whatever it is — whether it’s a gateway… or a device, or a software package, or a television programme of some kind that is going to be emitted through a set-top box — and that we make standards. ITU has been leading the world in accessibility standards. I’m very much an ITU lady. They gave me a home; they basically support what I do, and now we want all of you to support ITU in standardization. We need to have a global standards body that encourages outside people to join, so that standards are accessible and are worldwide and enable disabled people to access ICT.

 

The beginning at ITU: 1991

Gary Fereno, US State Department & Andrea J. Saks 

 

Contact Andrea J. Saks

Convener, ITU-T Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility

and Human Factors, (JCA-AHF)

Coordinator, Internet Governance Forum,

Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability

(IGF DCAD)

TDI Representative to ITU (website)

Accessibility Advisor to USA delegations attending ITU-T and

ITU-D Study Groups.

E-mails: asaks@waitrose.com;

andrea.saks@ties.itu.int.

TTYs spread next to the UK
14 October 1972: Andrea J. Saks (AJS)
arrived in UK with two Phonetypes but no
printing device.

AJS met with Government Post Office and
begins testing in the GPO Lab with two
donated creed teleprinters
Sir Brian Carsburg, Chairman of OFTEL in
the 1970’s stated:

“Disability communication should be
regarded in the same way as rural
communication”

 

The Progress in the UK
The Breakthrough Trust (a deaf and hearing nonprofit
group) joins forces with APCOM
APCOM lets AJS stay in the UK to help with GPO
trial.

GPO gives 5 Creed Teleprinters to Breakthrough
January 1973 GPO gives permission for 5
experimental Stations to start.

End of 1973: about 40 TTY’s stations existed
No relay services yet.

First TTY Transatlantic Call: 1975
Due to anti-trust regulation, data was not
allowed across the transatlantic voice
network. FCC waived the rule for this call
for one day only.

What it meant to USA and UK Deaf people:
one could talk over the trans- Atlantic voice
telephone network, using data or i.e. text
Faxing (an ITU standard V.21) across
the transatlantic voice network became
legal because of the Deaf, breaking the
FCC docket.

 

Transatlantic Compatibility: 1975
USA TTY Baudot to UK TTY Baudot
-- 45.5 and 50 baud rate, dual baud MCM’s
USA Teletypes and UK Teleprinters
-- 60 wpm and 66 wpm.

Decibel (DB) rates lowered by GPO in the UK
There was no satellite or Internet, only a
cable under the sea: This causes a reduced
transmission accuracy and during storms
lots of garble and crossed lines (famous
black dot)

Overview
The beginning of Globalization
-- 1973: the UK Government Post Office
officially granted trial licenses for 5 TTYs
stations to operate over a glass of sherry.

-- Compatibility without Standards: Some
problems re baud rates and WPM rates.

-- First Deaf Transatlantic Call 1975 from
London - UK to Washington DC, USA.

-- Mid 70’s Compatibility? We were able to
text to the USA from the UK with minor
adjustments! NO direct dial from USA!

 

 

 

 

Ms Andrea Saks
Andrea Saks is a known advocate for ICTs for persons with disabilities.

Her father, Andrew Saks, together with James C. Marsters and Robert Weitbrecht were
pioneers of deaf telecommunications using surplus teletypewriters and modems – the
precursors of textphones and today’s real-time text messaging. She grew in a family of two
deaf parents and assisted them from an early age as their interface with the hearing world:
getting doctors’ appointments, arranging guests’ visits, etc.

She took that role to the next level when she relocated from the US to the UK in 1972 to
promote the use of textphones internationally. She was able to successfully lobby the British
Government Post Office (the then-regulator of telecommunications) to allow the first
transatlantic textphone conversation (1975) and to grant a license for connection of text
telephones on the regular telephone network.

Her first involvement with ITU standardization activity started in 1991 and has ever since
increased in scope. Self-funded, she currently
attends many ITU-T study group and focus group meetings promoting the inclusion of
accessibility functionality in systems being standardized by ITU, such as multimedia
conferencing, cable, IPTV and NGN. After the recent creation of ITU-D Q20/1 on accessibility
matters by WTDC-06, she also started attending that group and now performs as a bridge
between the two sectors on the issue.

She has been a key person in the creation of all accessibility events in ITU, and currently is the
convener of the recently formed joint coordination activity on accessibility and human factors,
as well as the coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic Coalition on
Accessibility and Disability.

 

 

 

RNID broke it
RNID decided to go with Telecom Gold,
and CCITT 300 baud to be modern
– RNID tried to dismantle the Baudot TTY network in
a buy back and tried to impose the new textphone.
– Ireland does not conform. Also the
“now- unrecognized Baudot TTY network” continues
to be used in the UK in spite of the official UK denial
France develops the Minitel
Italy and German uses EDT Textphones
Holland uses DTMF Textphones

Many people tried to FIX it!
International Portable Textphones
Micon Ind. created the first British MCM
portable textphone and then an International
version followed:
the dual baud MCM was used in the First
Deaf Transatlantic Call in 1975.
Ultratec, a textphone manufacturer creates in
the 1980s, a very tiny multi-protocol portable
textphones called “the compact”, but always
had inside the original Baudot default protocol.
AJS and Dick Brandt went to ITU to begin the
first International standards process for TTY’s

 

 

 

 

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/b7B9s7XmzCs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laureates 2008: The ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award is presented to Ms. Andrea Saks by ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré during the Ceremony of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2008

 

http://youtu.be/b7B9s7XmzCs

Laureates 2008: The ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society Award is presented to Ms. Andrea Saks by ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré during the Ceremony of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2008

 

 

Ms Andrea Saks

 


Andrea Saks is a known advocate for ICTs for persons with disabilities.

Her father, Andrew Saks, together with James C. Marsters and Robert Weitbrecht were pioneers of deaf telecommunications using surplus teletypewriters and modems – the precursors of textphones and today’s real-time text messaging. She grew in a family of two deaf parents and assisted them from an early age as their interface with the hearing world: getting doctors’ appointments, arranging guests’ visits, etc.

She took that role to the next level when she relocated from the US to the UK in 1972 to promote the use of textphones internationally. She was able to successfully lobby the British Government Post Office (the then-regulator of telecommunications) to allow the first transatlantic textphone conversation (1975) and to grant a license for connection of text telephones on the regular telephone network.

Her first involvement with ITU standardization activity started in 1991 and has ever since
increased in scope. Self-funded, she currently attends many ITU-T study group and focus group meetings promoting the inclusion of accessibility functionality in systems being standardized by ITU, such as multimedia conferencing, cable, IPTV and NGN. After the recent creation of ITU-D Q20/1 on accessibility matters by WTDC-06, she also started attending that group and now performs as a bridge between the two sectors on the issue.

She has been a key person in the creation of all accessibility events in ITU, and currently is the convener of the recently formed joint coordination activity on accessibility and human factors, as well as the coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability.

 

 

 

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